Igniferous Iconoclast
by Rakusa
Summary: Paranormal. All Endymion wants is his castle and kingdom back. But his stepmother has different plans.
1. Chapter 1

Igniferous Iconoclast

1.23.2013

Summary: Paranormal. All Endymion wants is his castle and kingdom back. But his stepmother has different plans.

Rated: M for maturity in nature and currently allegories to more and possible more in the future.

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AN: Oh why do I have to have so many stories that I think are good ideas and pulling me away from the others that I have started but have not yet finished? Because they sit there and barate me until I start on them so I don't lose the idea but instead I lose the momentum? Sometimes, but sometimes taking a step away from a story I've worked on for awhile is actually a good thing. It gives me a chance to come back and edit and re-evaluate how it was going to go and what works better. I know that's right. Or at least it is with a few of my stories. Anyway, if you'll notice, this is a new story and I think it's a rather interesting idea if I don't toot my own horn too loudly. It's just... well you'll have to wait and see.

AN2: And let me reassure you, though it doesn't seem likely these chapters until you get into the heart of the matter _do_ after all, _matter._ Even if you might be confused for a little while, just give it a chance. :) BTW, there are a lot of changes not only because its paranormal but because it worked better this way. What I mean by this... well personalities are very similar, looks too for the most part, but a lot of outliers aren't the same, they've been shuffled around a _bit _and are a _bit_ more archetypal, not to mean that they're cliché in any manner.

AN3: I know, not an update to DD or Endymion or really any of the others that you're so patiently waiting for. At least I have positive news on DD, I've written the chapter, I'm just sitting on it until I can revamp it a little. Just a little. But I was pulled off that story and onto these two because they were bothering me to be written. This one because its so different and that other one you'll see in a moment for a similar reason and because I've been reading. I should never read, it gives me too many ideas that are so off from what I'm reading... hehe...

Chapter 1

The commotion of the market was almost deafening and he couldn't hear his companion for the life of him over it. The woman was soft spoken to begin with. He leaned in closer to hear her words and her lips brushed the shell of his ear but he felt nothing but the physical touch.

He gave a nod and the woman disappeared into the crowd and he went his separate way. They would not meet again. He moved easily in the crowd, being swallowed up by it, blending in with all the people who looked like him.

He stopped at a vendor and purchased a new outfit, changing and then disposing of his old clothes in different locations throughout the bazaar. He pulled his hood up and over his head, nobody would recognize him now, and nobody would look twice at him as he hunched and used a stick to help him walk. A few months ago and the stick wouldn't have just been a prop in his new image but something he really had needed but refused to use. He refused to allow that weakness to show and he refused to let himself depend on it.

A few months ago and everything was so very different but not nearly different enough. Not nearly so. He should have done something about this years ago but he had let things drift through his fingers like clouds to a child.

Well he wasn't a child anymore. Hadn't been for a long time. His hands aged before his eyes and he didn't even need to look into that mirror to see an old man looking back at him. Time had passed him by, long before he even knew what hit him.

The face in the mirror was unrecognizable to the youth and vitality he had been not long ago. He staggered through the streets bumping into people and many of them he shouldn't have dared to touch, much less insult them by doing so rudely. But he got a free pass from most of them, he was an old man and they turned to give him an earful but then let him be. Even they could not fault him, society had not crumbled so far.

Not yet. It almost made him feel bad for taking their money. They were the royal guard, surely, _surely_ if they still had goodness in them to let the old man pass without anger, they'd begin again to see the wrongs they had committed? That salvation would be upon them if only he said a word? But looking into their eyes he knew they were too far gone, too far down the path they had chosen.

Not all of them started out so willingly but to be a guard member now, they had to sign up for it and nobody could possibly have their eyes so closed as to not see what their position _meant?_ He could not let himself feel for any of the guard which he relieved of a few coins, he could only pray that they'd let it pass and not take it out on anyone else. Learning that the old man wasn't quite so trustworthy.

Even still, there were a few members of the guard that he avoided, that he did not risk any sort of confrontation. He could handle it, protect himself, but he did not dare risk it. He could take the brunt of their blows but the impact might slow him down, delay what was to come. He dared not allow that to happen. It was too great of a risk and with too damning of consequences.

He also wanted to protect those who risked their lives in coming here, to help him. He wouldn't put them in further danger. He would try to reduce the amount of harm that was bound to come their way. He willed himself to be patient, all would be resolved today and by the time night fell, the balance could begin to be restored. He just had to wait. His opportunity would come.

A noise heralded the start of it. The streets were being cleared at the busiest time in the busiest areas and he thought again that the woman had no idea of what she was doing, that she was ill-fit to rule and was only going to cause things to become worse. All she was capable of was disrupting the balance. She'd send people home today after she made her speech and they'd go hungry tonight, go home poorer than they had the day before and in this place they could not handle that kind of blow.

He pushed against a wall as a man who knew his tricks walk by, he tried to blend into the shadows. It was difficult with the sun beating down straight above them, offering little to no shade even in between the buildings. He had to fall back into the deep crevice between them to find anything, a place where the sun wouldn't shine no matter when or how it tried to reach its golden fingers down. Nothing would brighten these areas and it would remain cool for eternity.

He brought his cloak tighter around him but didn't shiver, refused to allow something as basic human as that to register. He could feel the heavy and cold presence of one of his weapons at his side, expertly cloaked from casual eyes. Only someone highly trained would ever notice it and it was like a blanket being draped over his shoulders. It comforted him in a way nothing else would. As long as he had these things, he would not fail, could not. Most of the others were stashed away somewhere he could easily get to without being found by anyone else, intentional or accidental.

He spun and flew to towards the darkened wedges narrowing in towards the center and climbed the buildings, looking for a spot to see but remain unseen. He finally found it and he hunkered down, knowing it was time to wait. And wait he did. He waited while the hot sun beat down at him, made only worse by his dark clothing and the sun moved slowly across the sky. The days were longer now than ever and he felt himself sweat, especially after the cooler air below.

He ignored it all, focusing his gaze in on the spot he knew she'd be. Waiting for her arrival to be complete and for her to turn and face her audiences. During her announcements was when he'd strike. She was being especially reticent today, refusing to leave her carriage. She spoke to the people as she passed by in it, through a drawn window. The curtain remained and it made it impossible for him to act, he had to be certain. To act without that proof and everything would be for naught.

Finally, _finally _the day drew to a close and with the spotlight only on her, a tactical waiting game until the sun set low enough that its light shined through the only way it could through the city, onto the center of it, she emerged.

It the light of the sunset, she was gorgeous. She was like flames stepping out of the carriage, all golds and reds and was difficult to look at unless you shaded your eyes. It was like she was that fire, brilliant, uncontrollable, powerful. Beautiful.

But she was also ruthless and destructive and needed to be put out. Every flame had its moment and then it ceased to exist. He would be that dose of water. And if he _were_ to fail. Well there was always backup plans. Contingencies which he only knew a handful of and that's the way he wanted it. If he were to be taken down, he wouldn't be able to talk even if he wanted to.

He removed his bow from his hip, placing it on the edge of the wall, lining up his shot as she moved into the location he'd known she'd always go. It was such a shame someone so breathtakingly beautiful was going to be deprived of oxygen very soon. His line of sight was clear and he drew back the wire, knowing how far and how fast he needed it to be to complete this mission.

He saw his signal from behind the woman, a simple reflection against something metal, the light catching it only briefly and it wasn't repeated. He let the wire go and the arrow flew beautifully through the air. Dispersing all that was in its way, gliding like a shark through the ocean and it almost reached its target.

She was pushed out of the way at the last minute, and he closed his eyes with regret even as more arrows flew, a barrage of them hoping one would have an intended impact. Yet none managed to graze even an inch of pale flesh. The woman was boxed back up into her carriage and it was raced through the town towards the best exit it could find, there were four and all were covered by one group or another.

She'd be dead soon enough, they'd catch her and take care of her on the spot. No trial was needed, no jury or people to give a verdict. She was already tried and condemned. There would be no mercy for her. His eyes squeezed tighter, refusing to mourn for the woman or to feel any sympathy for her. This was her lot in life, this is what she chose. He was only trying to figure out what went wrong.

The man who saved her life must have seen the message and put things together. He too was well aware of _his_ tricks and ploys. He would have known exactly what to look for. The man on the roof pushed up against it and got quickly to his feet. They needed a wild card, someone to come up with new ideas that would never be figured out, a different way of thinking to him and his companions. If the deed wasn't already done.

He dropped down to the market that was now devastated of its booths, devoid of life and people and he stalked towards another exit. He too would flee this place, the knowledge he sought would find him long before anyone else knew where to look. By the time any _person_ reached him, he'd already be long gone onto his next location. He stopped and turned back when something caught his eyes.

It was a picture of a young man with an arrogant lift to his lips. Below it was a reward for his _live_ capture. The price was significantly reduced if he was dead. The man in the hood shook his head. That stylized version did not capture the man right, there was never an arrogant look gracing his features. With a smirk he tore the page off and rolled it up and shoved it into his book. It was going into the pile with the others. It wasn't every day a man on the run was so sought after, so famous. Besides, if everything went right today, there wouldn't even be a price for his head. Or it would be greatly increased. He wasn't sure yet how it would go down, but he knew what a majority thought. It was the fringe society and the ones who wouldn't mind turning a profit that he needed to worry about.

Everybody would know his face, everywhere he went, but nobody would recognize him when he walked through their streets. This man on the parchment would never be seen again. He grabbed up his stash and mounted his horse, pushing it to its limits until the town was a distant memory and he couldn't remember what it looked like and wouldn't get any reminders by looking back and seeing nothing in the direction he came.

His lips pulled at the side, oh yes, this was just the beginning. He'd take what came and if it was not satisfactory he'd just have to find a way to up the stakes and make sure it became what he wanted. He almost always got what he wanted. The queen would die and a prince would rise.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

A blond man in his fifties road into town on a horse. He was a man of great strength but also great indulgences. Whispers spread like wildfire as his presence was remarked upon. It was the first stranger they'd had in quite a long time and never one of such great... pomp. Though most who looked at him looked away when his eyes caught them looking, their eyes sliding back greedily as they weighed how much that horse must have cost. Then their eyes moved to the shiny tack and wondered if it was just the sun or if it really was gold and silver. Then he would be out of their sight.

Men and women both sized up the merit and cost of a man who would come on his own. A man who was obviously well off but was it foolishness in his thinking that he could handle any thief, any less the honorable folk? If it were, then his size was only such an advantage, his age and weight were surely to slow him down and he could and would not be as good as the younger among these wastrels. The only ones who had stayed when things had gotten bad and had grown to rule the small community.

There was no other option to his thinking, if he had wanted to get through unnoticed, he wouldn't have come through in such a noticeable way and boasting his riches to those who had nothing but what they stole. Nobody gave this poor lot a handout. To do so would surely be the downfall of anyone even passing through.

The man was not foolish enough to try. He could read that and knew he'd made a mistake as soon as he was a few strides in. But he did not compound that mistake by giving away his unease. He sat confidently on his saddle and refused to show he was intimidated but refrained from confronting anyone unnecessarily. He didn't want anyone to become offended by the wrong look or no look at all. He looked forward, allowing his gaze to connect with only a few but moving his attention away as soon as he passed. Not a single expression marred his stoic face. His lips were straight and kept a slow procession into town.

So much had changed since he'd last been here. So much was worse and he couldn't even be sure if it was the same place. He had not been in charge of their goings and comings and one place was the same to him as another until now, until it really mattered. He thought this was where he was supposed to go, where he was convening once more. A recognizance with whoever was sent to meet with him. Only a dozen could be trusted, from that dozen only a handful could carry it off and of that handful he would only recognize a few. There were even less that would be unrecognizable to their opposition. He still refused to call them his enemy, at one point many of those with that label had been his brothers in arms, his friends.

He firmed his jaw, refusing to think of it. She had been the one to blame, she had been the siren that lead them all down a darkened path. He did not know how he was freed from her chains, how he had been the only one who wasn't snared in her noose. He couldn't be. He refused to believe it. He had to believe that there were others out there that had refused what she had offered. And she offered it to many but not everyone. He didn't want someone who hadn't been offered, he wanted someone who told her 'no'. An impossible word for someone like her, but he had managed to do the impossible.

He did the impossible every day. He just had to make it a bit more common and happen more often. It wouldn't hurt to stretch it either.

He found a restaurant and was thankful that he'd left the more important items, the more crucial ones to his success outside, hung up in a tree that retained all of its branches and most of its leaves, making it too full to see much in it to any casual passing eye.

He dismounted and tied up his horse, well aware that many were watching him. He gave the horse a pat on the side and whispered words of comfort before turning into the shamble looking restaurant. The building had an upper level and as he walked in he knew with a heavy heart that this isn't a place he'd be staying in for long.

The only youth it seemed was that of the female persuasion. The youngest men were only a decade younger that his own appearance. They also seemed to be the only men in the establishment. Those of the old and weary were outside on their rickety bones and having to scrape by. These were the people who were in charge.

The blond sat down at the bar knowing that if he sat at a table he'd have to pay for the privilege. Here there was a double benefit, he could save his money and hope not to be bothered by the other men who had stopped what they were doing and looked at him. The women tried to gain their attentions back, but all the eyes were on him. Maybe it would have even been a hat trick had he not appeared so well off and while not in the market, could be persuaded to such an outcome. If they didn't relieve him of his money first by other means. They would not find much and their disappointment might lead to other kinds of confrontations or extractions of payments they might deem important.

The man at the bar, the only man who was older than he, came and lifted a brow, silently asking what he wanted.

"A lager and whatever is on the pipe."

The man chuckled as he turned away and a dirty glass appeared in front of him filled with a pale brown liquid and a layer of froth popping its bubbles at the top. At least he could have what he asked for, he half a mind thinking he'd get whatever the man behind the bar decided he could have, if he had any sort of stock.

A few minutes later and a plate appeared in front of him as well. It too was brown and it was soupy. He picked up the spoon and most of it drained away before it could even reach his lips, and he wasn't sure which was worse, to eat this or to go hungry for a night. He'd have less energy if he didn't, but this might kill him before he could even pay his tab.

However it would be his third night of going without food and his horse was starting to look tasty. That knowledge had been what sent him towards a town he thought he recalled in his boyhood. A town when he and his father would go around visiting the locals. It wasn't until a long time later that he learned that while they were making nice, members of their hire would be fleecing the people, making sure they paid all their taxes and then some if they could get away with it.

His father had been no better then the men he saw here, the only difference was his father liked to drape himself in finery. A trait he had inherited but now only used as a weapon.

"You speak like you are trying to be one of us." A man who was obviously a regular if his drink showing up without needing to ask was anything to go by, and probably pretty high up too in their ranking here, said. He sat next to the blond at the bar and nursed his drink, thinking. "But you're clothing belittles your attempts at blending in. Not a very wise move was it?"

The blond slid his brown eyes towards the man in question. He didn't respond and went back to his meal, not sure if it was a very large animal that made such small chunks and he didn't let his thoughts go any further. Already he had to squash a few of the bugs under foot with his heel. He'd probably be charged for them too, either a clean up bill or depriving the owner of a further meal he could serve.

"Not a noble then?" The man tilted his head away from the blond, trying to get a read on him. "But something that keeps you in the better things in life. A merchant then?" When the blond didn't respond or even look at him again, the next words out of his mouth were a bit more testy. "I'm just trying to make conversation." Even though he was in his forties, he looked much older between the missing and yellowed teeth, the scabs festering and breaking open again to sloppily heal once more. Parts of his face was broken and stitched together once more but not in the location it had once been. "You know we don't take too well to rift-raft crowding into our territory. Any ill-gotten gains you have received while on our land will have to be foisted over and we won't even charge you for infringement."

"Those are awfully big words you know." The blond counted the amount of words on one hand that the man had said that he shouldn't of known. Not being from a place like this at any rate.

He was festering for a fight, was he? The man was getting agitated and he'd just found his new punching bag. "I was going to let it slide because you saved us the hassle of doing it ourselves, but if this is the way you want to be, then I shall take my pound of flesh happily." A knife gleamed for a brief second in the poor lighting cast down by candles. They dripped off their hangers and onto the bar, but the blond was unimpressed by such a small tool and his attitude was duly noted as he took another swig of his drink. Perhaps he wouldn't have to pay tonight after all.

The man turned absolutely furious by this stranger's behavior. "And here I was, thinking of letting you in on a little secret. There's something special to be got in these parts, if you can find it, it's worth a lot more than a meager shilling or two you can snatch off a dead man. Since you were new and all to here we thought we'd let you go and search for it. Our gift to you."

"I bet its somewhere you can't find it and this promise of riches beyond my imagine would have me looking until my last breath while you robbed me blind from behind." He finally spoke and it was in derision. "I've heard such stories before. How I managed to raise myself up from this pitiful life you lead is by not following them to the ends of the earth but moving on to something else, something far more worth my attention. So you shall excuse me if I don't chat with the scum of the earth." He turned back to his drink and as the man lunged for him, he swallowed it all down.

Before the man could even reach him he was out of his chair and sidestepping the foolish man and turning deftly to avoid any major harm. The man went flying and crashed into a table where a man sat with a woman on his lap and her skirt hiked up to her hips, not that it had far to go from the way it was stitched.

It angered the man who dumped the woman without a care for her own feelings or physical well-being and clocked the man who had flown, barely disrupted their table after-all. A full blown brawl was soon following that and the blond managed to escape relatively unscathed with only a few tears to his outfit to show for it. He tumbled through the door and landed on the porch in front of it to look up very long, very bare legs. The woman grinned down at him. "See something you'd like honey?" She was impervious to the commotion behind her and he wondered if this wasn't something she'd seen nightly. "While the men tumble, why don't we tumble too upstairs?"

"Tell me?" He asked getting to his feet and brushing off his backside that had landed on the dirt strewn porch, looking back at the fight and then at her even as he moved away with a boyish yet suave charm and she nodded for him to go on. "Any significant news you've heard today?"

The woman's lips pursed as she remembered back to conversations she had with people who shared her time. Then she grinned her eyes like cats as she returned her eyes to him. "That depends."

He flicked her a silver coin. "And that's only for information."

She bit it and then stuffed it into her bodice though that wouldn't stop many of the male hands that would go searching for it. In fact that was an easy place for them to find it. A bone-weary shoulder lifted and then dropped again. "Just some jumble about a failed assassination attempt and consequently failed mob lynching in a few towns over. The Queen is making her wrath known."

The look in this woman's eyes, a woman who should be all out of hate and despair since that's all her life was anymore managed to gleam a loathing that was so fierce that he almost offered her a position in his confidences. Any woman who could hate the Queen as much as she did belonged in his entourage but the split second hesitation was all that was needed before the brawl made its way out onto the street and they had banded together with one clear victim in sight.

He knew as he ran that he'd never find her again and wouldn't be able to give her a network to use and be used by. He also knew before he even touched his horse that it had been severely compromised but thankfully not to the animal itself. They were slowly stripping the saddle and bridle of its painfully obvious features and allures. He didn't mind as he released the ropes from the hitch and hopped on, he didn't need the saddle right now and once he did again, he would have fixed it. Besides, give these crooks a glimmer of hope, they were thieves and worse and as soon as they looked again they would find that gold and silver seriously lacking in any real precious metal commodity.

He kicked the horse into a gallop before leaving town and heard the shouts and commotion behind him as they gathered whatever horses they had around and followed him. He had the better beast and would lose them soon enough. He wasn't looking forward to doubling back and grabbing his gear but he couldn't go without it for too long but first he needed to lose his tail.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

AN: I hope you guys realized the Harley/Joker pic that was up before was just a joke until we got further into the story... Like this chapter.

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The angry drunkards were more stubborn and salient than he thought. They also lasted longer and gathered up what they needed far quicker than any unorganized group. It made sense if he thought about it, they had to somehow band together to rob from the rich and their guards. He was on his own and an easier target. It was amazing that he even got into town without being robbed blind.

He needed to do some quick thinking and find some place to hide that they wouldn't find. He had unwittingly gotten himself into serious trouble just now.

They slid down a hillside and around a bend and then the horse reared back before stomping down on its front hooves again. He was thrown from his steed, something that wouldn't have happened if the saddle hadn't been compromised. He flew forward and when he fell and landed painfully, he was sure he was knocked out for a few precious minutes. When he opened his eyes again he wondered if the thieves had caught him and murdered him for the effort. The Queen would be disappointed she couldn't do it herself.

This was nothing like he'd seen before and definitely not what he'd seen briefly when they made that turn. He heard a neigh and turned to look, just a foot from him the world was drab and gray once more. The horse moved off to the side of the path and laid down behind a large rock. It would blend in perfectly with its surroundings, especially in this twilight.

He turned back around to look for a place to hide himself when his breath caught. If his surroundings were gorgeous, then he had no words for this sight. At a water's edge a young woman was gliding her finger across its surface and was completely enchanted by what she saw there. Fear suddenly gripped him, if the men found her she would be destined for a life like all those women in town. He did not want that for her. "You have to get out of here!" He shouted and her eyes lifted towards him in surprise.

He wasn't prepared for her reaction and she giggled. "Well hello to you too." She rose to her feet and she was a little thing even at her full height.

They were remarkable eyes. They were so pale a blue that they were silver and he found himself forgetting a lot of his fears as he looked at her. His eyes scanned her face in its cherub shape, found her lips full and the top one bow-shaped. Her ears were pointed, her nose small and like a button. Wait- her ears were pointed? His eyes jumped back to those. He knew exactly what she was now but he asked to be sure. "Are you an elf?"

She laughed and shook her head. "Not exactly." She waved to the place they were in. "Welcome to my home. It's not every day that someone is worthy."

"Aren't we going to be found?" He heard the thuds now of the horses and knew they were close, they had to leave immediately.

"Nobody can find this place who wishes to do harm to it or who resides here. If they're after _you_ then they can't find it. They'll pass right through." She shrugged and beckoned him closer.

He wasn't sure about it, if she wasn't an elf then she could be any number of mystic creatures and not all of them were nice. Not even all elves. She shook her long gold hair out and if fanned around her in tumbling waves from the sea.

The area wasn't huge but it was peaceful and he found himself relaxing. He joined her at the small pond and looked down to see what she was looking at earlier. Fish as big as his hand swam around but they were jewels. They were neither fish he'd seen before or actual jewels but the fish were made out of those stones, like the humanoid before him. On closer inspection her skin was pearl-colored and even had a pink sheen to it, like it was an outer coating. Her eyes were sapphires but a rare color he'd never seen before and were darker when he got closer. Her lips were similar to her skin but were smooth like rubies. Her hair was literal spun gold. He wondered if he could touch it to make sure but she kept a good three feet away from him and was always facing him. He wondered if he made her nervous.

He had trouble pulling his thoughts away from her and on the immanent danger. "My horse-"

"Seems like she's fine where she is. If she had wanted to, she could have come in. Must not like me very much." Another laugh. "Though she did let you go through, must think _you_'re safe with me."

The noise from the trackers got closer and closer and he looked back to watch them practically step on them and then they were gone. The noise grew faint as they continued on in an unknown direction.

"Like I told you, nobody can find this place who is trying to."

"That's not what you said. That's not what you said at all-"

"Well both fit." Her eyes danced with mischief, daring him to challenge her on this point. "And it's never in the same spot in your human world. Something to do with the Earth's rotation or some such dribble."

"It's drivel."

"Exactly. I'm so glad you see my point."

Her eyes were so mysterious and enchanting that he leaned closer, highly amused that she'd managed to back him into that statement. "If you're not an elf, what are you exactly?"

She tilted her head and her ear almost rested on her shoulder. "I didn't say I wasn't."

"But you said-"

"I said." She countered. "I said what exactly?"

He pulled back wondering how she kept managing to side-step him and distract him from what he was doing. He pushed himself back to his feet. When he looked at her, she was looking at him perplexed in return. "What's the matter?"

She shook her head to clear it and she gestured around to the mossy land and dark green plants. "Do you not like my land?" Flowers bloomed in a vibrant and variety of colors. What he heard now that he was listening for something other then the men who followed him, was a waterfall and knew it was what supplied her little pond and that it had to be somewhere deeper in her forests.

"It's amazing." He responded honestly.

"Then why leave it so soon with no assurance that you'll see it again?"

"Because I've been here once and I'm sure I'll come upon it again." He patted off the sections that had come into contact with the ground, but knowing it was pointless, he could easily just change or phase out those inconsistencies.

"You cannot find it if you're looking for it." She warned.

"Then I won't be looking for it." He countered and turned his eyes to look at her but found that she was closer than before.

Her eyes were reading his as if she didn't understand him. But then again how many humans did she encounter? Could she see them all go about their every days and figure she had a market on the human behavior? "If you leave here, no matter your intentions you will be trying to get back, no matter how subconsciously and you'll never manage it again."

"Is this your ploy? Lure men in and never let them leave?"

She laughed. "Haven't I told you-"

"Haven't you?" He cut in. "I feel like this game has been overplayed."

"Stop!" She was sounding a little less cheerful and a bit more desperate. "If I had the power to do you harm she would not have allowed you in. She is a fierce and possessive creature and no harm must come to her master. Her warrior spirit taunts me with the threat..." She shook her head and sat back to look at him again, her eyes retreating from the horse still hidden by the boulder outside of this little world. "I do not get many who are worthy passed my gate and I do not wish to ruin this one with a hasty retreat. The men will be coming back this way and you will be caught if you do not wait them out. It would be remiss of me to allow you back into that danger when you have been grated safe passage."

He turned to look at her once more and that pink was more than a tint now, it was a rosy glow. He liked it when she was passionate about something, it make her cold features come alive. She might have been beautiful but she was too much like a statue for his tastes. "All right, I shall stay until they have passed."

The woman nodded and settled back on her heels. "That is good. You are unlike any I have met before. It is refreshing."

"You have met many before?" He asked kneeling once more against the mossy growth.

"I have lived many long years and a few have ventured in. Most of what I know if what I see beyond my screen." She lifted a hand and waved at the entrance he had come through. "Some I miss." His eyes followed her hand, they were small like the rest of her, but they were elegant with perfectly oval fingernails and were painted pink with tiny purple jewels on the white tips.

"Amethysts." She answered his unspoken question and he regarded her suspiciously after that. She rolled her eyes at him and wagged her fingers. "You were staring at them. I cannot read your mind. I cannot do much of anything actually. Not like you."

"What can I do?"

"Quite a lot." She shrugged and went back to looking at the fish in her pond, they came up to her fingers and sucked on them before swimming off again.

"Why don't you answer any of my questions?"

"I do." She lifted her sapphire eyes up to his and he felt enchanted once more and he was relaxing under her spell.

"You don't." He argued.

"I just don't answer them the way you'd like me to." She held out her hand and he found his lifting off his lap towards hers. His horse neighed loudly at that very moment and he shook his head to clear it pulling his hand away as he did so. She looked surprised again. "A very strange man indeed." She rotated her hand and produced- nothing. He looked at her empty palm and narrowed his eyes trying to see if it was smaller than he was expecting and just wasn't seeing it.

She laughed that pretty sound that sounded like bells and pulled her hand away. "There's nothing there."

"I don't understand you."

"I'm not to be understood." She stood up and winked. "But it is time for me to leave you here. When they pass through again to return home then you may leave if you will it. If you don't, you can come seek me out further in the forest."

"Wait!" He was suddenly unsure if he wanted her to go. She paused as she backed into it. "Answer me one more question?"

"I will but choose your words wisely for you may not enjoy the answer."

"How have you come about the conclusions you have made about me?" It was such a sideways question, one that had nothing important in it and yet it seemed like the most important one he'd ever asked.

Her teeth were shown shortly and he was shocked by the whiteness of them. "Everything is stripped bare here, it is as it is. Nobody can hide what they really are, not even you, great wizard." She bowed her head in respect but then it seemed as if she was swallowed up by the darkness of the forest but she hadn't even moved a few steps.

He wanted to know where she was going and why she chose now to do so. He was already on his feet to follow her wanting to unravel the words she had spoken and demand that she clarify something held him still. He let her go and waited until the moment she said he'd have a choice. He looked down at the pond and the fish were gone and the surface was as still as glass. Though it wasn't very deep he could see his reflection and shock took over his face. He hadn't recalled doing that. His real self looked back at him.

Perhaps it had been the fall that surprised him to turn off that spell but something about her words registered and he wondered if that barrier had more to do with it. He looked back to his horse and was tempted to beckon her in. It was safer in here than it was out there and the men if they found her would serve her up as dinner if they didn't try to tame her first. But she _was _well hidden and it had been her choice not to come in.

He sank onto his bottom and stared down at the empty pond. If the girl wasn't an elf he couldn't understand yet what she was but she might be useful. If not with skills of her own then as a rare specimen that he could trade. Ripples started forming on the surface from nothing causing it. The longer he thought about his plans the more closely banded the ripples became and he heard the trees start to sway and the leaves rustling.

His thoughts turned to something else, waiting to hear the thump-thump-thump of the horses returning with their riders unable to find their visitor. The trees continued rustling even if they slowed slightly. He didn't hear the horses.

And it continued on for several hours. There was no sign of the horses returning this way. He was beginning to think the non-elf with all of her mysterious comments was just playing with him here too. How could she know if the horses and their riders would return at all this way? It was quite possible that they knew another way back to town and wrapped around the mountain bend they were on.

He thought about leaving just then and there but he wondered what was further in these woods. He still couldn't understand why the fish had vanished at the same time she had. Then again what had they been there for in the first place? What right had he to ask when he had half believed that she and her kind didn't really exist?

His father had said something to him once about how you could capture a fae but it had to be with string. Rope was too heavy and too cruel to do something like that with a delicate creature such as a fae. Then there were stories about the fae, evil man eating ones that could crush the bow of a ship in an instant. He didn't think rope was too strong for that one. But luck would have it, he had a string in the front of his shirt and he pulled it off, just in case.

The sun had set and he had to guide his way deeper with the moon's light. It broke through the branches of the trees and lit a path for him. He didn't know why but he just assumed forward would have been the best route. He was not mistaken.

He found her there, sitting high up in the trees, so dark they were to how light she was that it seemed as if she were sitting on the end of the moon. She was facing the curve and talking softly to it, he could not hear her words or know if it was speaking back. However he wouldn't be surprised if it were, not with all that he learned today.

He must have made a noise because the soft lilt of her voice cut off and she turned to him with almost unseeing eyes. As she turned, the moonlight highlighted what he could not see during the day. It caught the faint almost invisible edges of her wings and lit them up like a bright light on the water, or after a perfect snowfall with no clouds. They glittered beautifully and because of that he could see each and every tiny detail and exquisite scrawl. The lines almost looked tribal in nature but with its own very unique twist. The moon shone upon her like a spotlight allowing him to see everything and he meant _everything_. The onyx dress she had worn with disinterest before was now gone.

"You're a fairy?" His words were breathless and he couldn't be sure at first if she heard him. She just kept staring at him with those big blank eyes. The color didn't help, not from this distance at least, from this distance it looked like she had almost no eyes at all.

Then she frowned and the rubies of her lips looked hard and unbreakable. When she finally spoke it was only one word. "No."

"But you have wings. And you have pointed ears." He made a slight gesture towards her head but his eyes were still on her wings. Did they work or were they just for show? If they worked, was there flesh between or just the finest glossimer thread? Perhaps all of it was silk made by the finest worms in the world. He had to touch and find out for himself. They must have worked, they had gotten her up onto one of the highest boughs hadn't they?

An elf was rare, but a fairy was rarer still. She could go for a _lot _of money, but even more than that, a fairy might even give him safe passage through the Queen's land. Maybe even let him have an uninterrupted moment with the Queen. A fairy would be great leverage indeed. The ground trembled below his feet, the loose rocks on the path between them moved and she looked down at it in surprise.

Then her eyes snapped back at him and he realized what was wrong with her eyes, her pupils _were_ the blue he had the hardest time in seeing. They weren't black like a human's and they didn't widen and contact either. "Stop it!" She covered her ears with her hands and took a shuddering step backwards. He was afraid she'd fall off that branch. "Please don't continue on that path. It will only lead to trouble. The world will destroy itself if you don't."

"The world will continue on as it always has."

"Not _my _world."

"Ok." He held up his hands in reassurance and it appeared as if he had nothing in them.

Her nose scrunched up and she turned away from him once more and he wanted to tell _her _to stop, that he wanted to see her wings for as long as he could. They were quite gorgeous. "What are you doing here?" She asked as she traced the shape of the moon with her hand. "It's almost gone." She added but he didn't think she was talking to him anymore.

"You told me to find you."

"After they returned back this way." She stretched out her wings, four in all and let them flutter as if she were shaking them off or warming them up. "They have not yet returned."

"It's been hours. I got bored and thought you weren't telling the truth."

Her lips curled upward. "I say a lot of things but truth is something I always tell. You weren't supposed to come until morning. This is very unprecedented."

"If you're not an elf, and not a fairy, then what are you?" Endymion demanded annoyed they'd gotten off subject but she just smiled some more.

"Something else." She turned her head to the side. "Your armor suits you, the shoulders look like tiger eyes. Whereas your eyes are like the cubs. The only blue on your whole person." His shoulder pads were black with golden inlays, it helped to hold up his brown cloak over the Tuscan jacket with red and silver details near the neck and down his bare chest. It was cool but it didn't get _that _cold yet.

"At the moment maybe." He agreed and she arched a gold eyebrow but he moved the conversation onward. "Come down here and talk to me logically. I don't like bending my head so far back to look at you."

"Then you should have come during the day." She arched backwards. "Or step further away."

"You did this, didn't you? I can't change my appearance."

"You shouldn't have to, but I control nothing here. Everyone is as they are." She shrugged. "You are yourself why would you want to present me with anyone else? No secrets here."

"Yet you continue to astound me with secrets. Please at least introduce yourself? My name is-" He thought about giving her a false name but in the end he knew it was right to tell her the truth. "My name is Endymion."

She jumped from one branch to another and he turned to follow her path. He jumped when he found her behind him upside down handing from a tree branch. "Endymion." She said the word allowing it around her tongue and becoming familiar with the new sounds. "Was that so hard?" Then she bolted upright again and fluttered off to higher ground. "You couldn't see my wings before?"

"No." Though he knew it wasn't _really _a question.

"They don't usually shine in the sunlight, only the moonlight. Even so it might happen by accident if it catches the right angle. So I didn't turn my back on you."

"I thought you just didn't trust me." Endymion countered and found her next to him once more. He took a deep breath and uttered his own prayer to keep calm with this woman. "God grant me serenity." She was looking at him oddly for that comment. "What?"

"Serenity." She repeated.

"What of it?" He ran a hand over his temples.

"Headache?" She sounded sympathetic but unlike a normal woman she didn't try to touch him to help relieve that pressure building up in his brain and he was sourly disappointed. He was still tempted to touch her wings but after their earlier conversation decided to put that out of his mind. He gave a small nod. "Then use your magic."

Then she was backing away again and he blinked and she was up in the trees once more.

"That's not exactly how my magic works."

"You haven't tapped into it enough yet." She was bouncing around him and it was making him dizzy so he just sat down and waited her out.

"You said it you know?"

"Said what?" He laid down and just looked at her up in the trees. For some reason it didn't seem inappropriate that she was completely naked. It was almost like she was unsexed like this, that in this natural state she had no power over the male to think of her body in anything other than part of her. Sort of how animals were nude and nobody tried to clothe them no matter how much hair or lack of it they had.

"My name."

"What's your name?" He asked tired of playing this game, but she intrigued him too.

"You know."

"I know your name? What is it?" She laughed in response to his questions and she had this uncanny ability to leave him hanging with her short responses or without saying anything either. "When?"

"Just now." She swung down through the branches and landed on a bolder not too far from him and sat on it cross-legged. She stared at him as if he was intriguing too. But she'd seen humans before, a lot of them.

He thought back to all the words he'd said to her which frankly wasn't a lot and tried to find anything that could possibly be a name. He picked something obvious first and he was doubtful as he said it. "God?" She shook her head and the gold strands fluttered in the air, a few caught on her wing. They were similar to butterfly wings in shape. But those really pretty butterflies with long elegant streamers on the bottom and the tops were rounded but came out at a point and dragged out there too but not nearly as far with a small ball on each tip. They shimmered as she moved and it seemed as if the pattern on the wings were changing, like the lines were alive and shifting as she breathed and thought and whatever else she did. Almost like the scrawl were letters telling what he could not garner off her face or from her actual words.

"Crystal." She commented and he thought for a second that was her name. But she turned and one of her wings shook like a wagging eyebrow to share with him exactly what she meant. He wondered again if she could read his mind and she was just lying earlier about that skill. But she said she did not lie. Was that a lie?

This one was usually a boy's name. "Grant?" Her nose scrunched up again as if she felt betrayed by his response to giving him so much information about herself. Then he happened upon it. "Serenity?"

"Good job boyo." She responded flippant. "It only took you a few tries."

"You could have just told me." Endymion returned but she gave a shrug telling him exactly what she thought of the easy way. He took a breath, there were so many things he wanted to know and arguing with her was pointless. "I thought you couldn't use magic here."

"No." Serenity said simply. "You can't hide who you are here." Then she paused. "The Queen can't use magic here, not anymore."

"The Queen is magical?" He had always thought it was so but had never truly confirmed it, he had thought she was a sorceress and had put a spell on everyone.

"There's all kinds of magic." Serenity bobbed her head.

"Why can't you just give me a straight answer?" He demanded growing frustrated once more.

She made faces as if she was mocking him and trying to look stern but in a comical way. "What's the fun in that?"

"More fun than what we're doing now." He responded and she lifted a brow.

"I suppose you would see it that way. But nothing is gained by easy answers." She tilted her head around so she was looking at him sideways. Then she rotated it the other way. "Nope, don't see it."

"See what?"

"The way you see things." She shrugged and stood back up once more. "Go back to the pond, and I'll find you in the morning."

"Why didn't you want me to see your wings? Why the worry if it wasn't likely?" He called out to her before she could go anywhere.

She turned her head back to him but still intended to leave. "You know the answer and you've already said it to me." Then she pushed off and took flight, skimming high over the trees and _away_. He could try to follow her but she might just turn and double back. It was like trying to follow birds, only the best hunters knew how to do it well. He wasn't the best but he was getting better but these were magical lands and he didn't think the rules applied here in quite the same way.

Endymion sighed and settled into his spot some more. He could try and make a fire but he wasn't cold and this seemed as comfortable as any other spot. He looked up into a star-less sky. It was pitch black up there and he couldn't even blame it on the non-existent clouds. The only thing up there was the moon, even the trees were a darker black in the inky sky.

Then he fell asleep and it was the first time in _years _that he'd slept so soundly. There was nothing to disturb him, not even the rustle of the leaves. But it wasn't that _too_ quiet that would set him on edge, it was just peaceful and he put it down to the beauty and safety of his surroundings.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

Endymion woke to something prodding him in the side and he opened his eyes to see that beautifully shaped face over his. He jerked up with a start and his hands came out to grab her but she fluttered away from him before he could touch her. "You have to go." She hissed looking around the trees and not at him.

"Why?" Forgive him, he was still half asleep.

She opened her mouth then shut it again as she looked at him once more. A smile tugged at her mouth. "You're like that adorable cub I called you yesterday. All unsteady and not the bit ferocious. Trying to look scary but only pulling off cute."

He couldn't help it but his ego was instantly bolstered but at the same time he felt offended. "Excuse me?"

"You haven't done anything." Serenity sniffed the air. "Nope, nothing."

He laughed, he was seeing her in an entirely different light this morning. A good night's sleep would do that to a person. He felt less stressed out and could think more rationally. "That's not what I meant."

"You aren't old enough to be an adult tiger. You don't have that hunt in your eyes. It's what allowed you to be able to come here." Serenity pointed at the way he had come through yesterday. "It's time for you to go back to the pond."

He reluctantly listened to her and did as she said but she didn't lead the way, preferring for him to go first. Endymion could understand that unease. If she had stumbled upon _his _land he might not have taken to her so easily either. When he got back the fish were back and he turned to look at her and then looked at the fish once more. "One's missing."

"They feed the Borat. It will be back tomorrow. It was the last one taken."

"The Borat?"

A shoulder lifted then fell and Serenity grabbed a branch and pulled herself up onto it. She sat there swinging her legs and looking at him. "I've seen you before. Met you actually, once."

"You have?" Endymion couldn't recall coming to this place in his entire life.

"Oh yes, but we weren't here. We were some place else. You had fallen into the world much as you had done yesterday. You have forgotten, but then so had I. It is forgiven on your behalf, you wouldn't have understood then what you had found and so would not have sought it out. It probably seemed like your own world at that point. Indeed, you used to slip in and out of ours like us. When I met you I had been curious, wondering what you could possibly have been. It was then that I tasted your power. You are indeed different. Very different." She gave herself a small nod. Then her eyes moved to the rock which hide his horse and he turned to look at it too. Was it just him or had that rock seemed closer yesterday? By a good dozen or so yards?

"Why are we further away?"

"I told you. We move in different rhythms."

"I'm sick of this 'I told you' stuff." Endymion's good mood was suddenly abating. He didn't remember meeting her, he would have if he had. She wasn't one that would be easily forgotten and another world different than this?

"If you're so sick of it, then why do you keep asking the same questions? Or is it that you cannot remember the answers I have already given you? That would make a lot of sense." There was a sound, it sounded like the horse was laughing but horses didn't laugh. And his horse didn't laugh at him!

"But you haven't told me anything! You make vague comments that have nothing to do with what I've said and then later when I ask you a question you say you've already told me."

"And I have!" Serenity grabbed another branch above her head, using it to help her to her feet and she was getting riled up by this conversation. He watched her wondering once again if it was possible for her to fall off. "You just do not listen!"

"Why don't you use your wings? Why pull yourself upwards with your hands and branches when you have wings?"

"Because they- oh forget it!" She climbed the trees quickly, escaping him and his conversation. He supposed other people when they met her didn't argue with her only basking in what she said and trying to soak in whatever they could learn by osmosis while here and piece things together later. He was battling with her truths and questioning anything he didn't understand.

"Yes, run away little fairy, run run run away, far away." Endymion watched her go and then he decided to check out where the waterfall was. He hadn't seen it the day before and he was curious. But before he even took a few steps in that direction the ground seemed to thump with a thunder clap. He turned and looked around curious but only discovered what it was several minutes later as it got excruciatingly closer.

The band of murderous thieves were finally returning back to their camp. More than which had taken off and followed behind him. He swallowed, they must have been smarter than he gave them credit for because they must have split into two and had a group try to head him off. They probably would have succeeded if not for this reprieve.

They were making their way back to see if he'd manage to give them the slip some other way and he watched as they all went around his horse without seeing it. But it wasn't a black horse they were looking for, were they? He had dropped the white charm as soon as he realized he wouldn't be needing it himself while in here. Only one knew what color that horse was and who rode it and she wasn't looking for him here.

He gave a short laugh as all of the men left and he went searching once more for the waterfall, the Queen would think he'd gone some place safer, some place out of her realm. How would she have felt knowing he was coming inward to where the poison spread the most violently? She'd left a trail as she forged her way towards the castle. His father had just been too stupid to see it. How could he not? Even if blinded by lust or even misguided love, he had to see what was happening around them? Endymion had been shucked out before he could fully grasp what was going on. He bet the Queen regretted that now. Regretted a lot of things, chief amongst which was not killing him when he was a teenager. Even then she should have seen that he was proficient with a sword, excelled at daggers and was beyond decent at using a bow. Not to mention the horse that would only allow one rider and was a fierce companion in any struggle. Including the one he had to get away from his palace as it burned.

Women weren't to be trusted, it was one hard lesson after another that had been taught since an early age. His mother had promised to stay in his life but she died when he was ten. Barely a year had passed before his father married again. This one lasted for a few months before she was beheaded for witchcraft. All the while _he _was practicing the arts. He hadn't blamed himself for that one, there was no way she could have gotten mixed up in what he was doing. Anything she was blamed of was either her own doing or his father's need to be rid of a wife ill-suited to him.

Another marriage and a woman who appealed to Endymion not on a personal level but as one who could rule a country wisely and well and might have good mothering genes in her if her actions towards Endymion was anything to go by. She'd died in childbirth and the baby had been stillborn. His father had been devastated, the child would have been a girl. The prophecy called for a girl and he wanted to be the one who brought it to fruition.

Publicly she'd been called a sin against god and he had seen it in his wisdom to end such problems. Privately Endymion saw his father destroyed and all because of a woman. Then this marriage. Years after the last and Endymion had been sure his father had sworn off marriages after three failed ones. Endymion had been a teenager and would soon rule in his stead. If or when his father stepped down, the throne would go to Endymion despite having a daughter somewhere in the line.

The King had rationally decided he couldn't be the one to fulfill the prophecy and decided to raise his son as much as he could once more. The Queen must have promised to have daughters, all healthy and strong. Words were whispered in the King's ear about ridding them of the problem that was logically in their way. Ironically, Endymion believed this one dabbled in the witchcraft that his father had accused of his second bride and she was good at it.

She had a daughter. The daughter _was _healthy and strong. It just depended on what slant you applied to that latter description. Then she had another daughter. Then a third and then the King was dead. Three years, three daughters. At least the king could die happy. And a woman had kept her promise.

Strange how the ones that shouldn't were the ones that did and so laid the ground work for a very slippery slope. The eldest daughter was now seven years old and had a tantrum on her like her mother. He could not attest to the other two.

The Queen while keeping a promise to his father had only caused Endymion more grief. It was like a promise broken to him from his father. But that promise had been broken long before then. That promise had been broken when his father let his mother die.

Then a thought stilled him as he climbed a hillside, the only hill he'd seen. There was one female who had told him only truths. He glanced back at where he had come. She was the first woman in a long time that he felt trust beginning to build in her favor. If only because he respected that she did not lie to him.

Then he tore his gaze away from the tall trees and wondered just how far this land went. He found his answer shortly as he ran into a barrier. It pushed him back not very nicely but at least it didn't hurt too much more than his pride and rear to learn he couldn't go where he wanted. A giggle sounded behind him. "Don't you know anything?"

He turned his head to look at her, the only one he'd found in this land besides the fish and the 'borat' but he hadn't seen that either. "Let me guess, you'll enlighten me now."

She pursed her lips and up here away from the trees she sparkled. The sun caught her and it bounced off her casting light in more directions than just the one the sun intended it to do. "If you're going to be like that, then no."

"Sorry, sorry Serenity, please don't run off again. I wanted to talk to you." He gestured behind him. "Why a waterfall but unable to get to it?"

"That's not part of this land." She let her eyes roam over the area he'd begun to explore. "What you've seen is what you get. I suppose I could have warned you but that way has not been possible for many years."

"You used to go that way?" There was a slight bob of her head. "But now you can't?" Another bob. "Something happened here to stop travel between the lands." This time it wasn't a question and a wry smile came to her lips.

"Thank you captain."

"Why would you assume I'm a captain?" He honestly didn't understand her at all.

"I didn't- never mind." She shook her head. "No, that way has been barred for many years now and travel between lands are more treacherous then ever before." She hesitated and then shook her head again. "Let's go back to the pond and then you can be on your way."

"You don't want me asking any more questions?"

Her clear eyes with only the slightest hint of blue looked at him and he wondered what she was thinking. "The more questions you ask the harder the answers will be and you will not want to leave. If I could I'd keep you here forever but there is a life out there you must complete. Time will not make much of a difference."

"You really don't like me do you?" He demanded but he found himself walking by her side back down the hill.

"It is not like or dislike that is the problem. I have seen what man will do if idle enough and it is not a fate I wish upon myself. I may be bored here but here I am safe. The borat is not interested in me."

"If you leave, are you then unable to come back in yourself? Because you are looking for it?"

"The fae do not adhere to the same rules. The fae, for the most part, are all the same and even our differences are not cause for harm or fear for each other." She frowned. "Though some fae choose to take a different path in life."

"Then why not leave and join the fae on the other side of that barrier?" He hadn't seen any, while he could see land further on, it was distorted and he wasn't sure it was what he thought he saw.

When her head shook it was like metal rubbing against each other but it was oddly soothing too. "I cannot. For some fae it is more dangerous out there than others."

"And for you it is dangerous?" He asked with a faint frown.

"For me it is the most dangerous." She nodded towards his horse who was pulling itself back to its feet and he wondered why it had not harmed it to lay for so long. No other horse had ever done so without serious consequences. "Go join your horse while you can still find her. Another night, two, and we will be too far away from it to walk and find again."

"Serenity-" He reached for her hand and he fully expected her to pull away but she let him lift it to his lips. "Thank you for offering me this safe passage. I will not forget you."

"It'd be better if you did." She returned mysteriously and started to pull her hand away.

His horse neighed in terror and caught the fairy's attention. He looked back at the horse as it charged full force into their world and heard the neigh turn into a word...

"No!" But it was too late he had already tied the string around her wrist without her noticing. He watched as it dissolved and he jerked in surprise and she went stumbling in reaction. He was trying to catch her from landing painfully but at the same time he couldn't tear his attention away from the new woman in their midst.

He was dry mouthed and his jaw worked on its own, or at least it hung open as he stared at the dark haired beauty. The look she gave him in return was of one very unhappy.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

"Who are you?" It was a very unintelligent question but at the moment he didn't feel very intelligent at all.

"Raye." The blond said from the close vicinity she had found herself in and struggled free of his hands to go to the nearly nude woman with the shape that did not end. There were a few scraps of black cloth covering the important bits but it left bare a long lean stomach.

He didn't want to let go of Serenity. He hadn't been aware of it at the time but she felt good in his hands. He also didn't want the chance of losing her. He had not expected the string he'd tied around her wrist to disappear. He didn't know if she knew he'd even attempted something so foolish.

'Raye' pulled Serenity into her arms for a hug but she was continuing her glare at Endymion over the top of the little blond's head. If he wasn't mistaken the woman was his horse. "You're a horse."

"And you're an idiot. I bring you here to be protected and cared for and instead you try to take what isn't yours. You have no idea what you've just done." She looked down and cupped Serenity's cheeks in her hands. "You should have been able to give yourself if it was what you wanted. I'm sorry. I hadn't realized he'd do something so ridiculous."

Serenity shrugged in response but didn't say anything, her cheeks were mashed together. The woman who was once his horse pulled her back into her arms and just held her. "Wha-why-" He had so many questions. "You're a horse."

"Yes, I do believe I am aware of that." Raye rolled her eyes at him and set Serenity behind her. He wanted to reach out for her and drag her back to his side. Raye wouldn't keep the fairy from him but he was still trying to catch up.

"Now you're a woman."

"I am." Raye nodded. "I can actually change into quite a few animals but I prefer the horse. It's quite regal and majestic."

"Raye thinks she's a Princess." Serenity spoke from behind her new friend and came up to the woman's side. No, that wasn't right, she'd known the woman's name, they couldn't be 'new' friends. How long had the two known each other? How come Raye hadn't brought him here before or come here on her own to visit with Serenity? Thousands of thoughts whirled through his head.

"The string disappeared."

"You would rather it be visible?" Serenity asked looking at her wrist in wonder. "You have deft fingers Endymion."

"I almost didn't catch it either but he's cunning this one and I can see some of his tells from being with him for so long." Raye shook her long black hair. "I'm only sorry that I wasn't here before now. I should have stopped it if I was faster. I should have distracted him by coming in."

"I was wondering why you chose to remain out there, it wasn't quite safe for you." Serenity acknowledged. "I was a bit disappointed you didn't want to visit."

"Oh it wasn't you." Raye sounded instantly apologetic. "I just didn't want _him_ to know. It made things easier that way."

Serenity nodded brightly, all had been forgiven and put behind her it seemed. Endymion was not quite as accepting. "He's had you for ages, I'm surprised he hadn't caught on himself, but then again he's human."

"Excuse me, but could the two of you please not talk about me like I'm not here?" He waited a beat. "Nor so disparaging in your remarks?"

"Well what else are we supposed to do when you're such an idiot and slow on the uptake?"

"What do you know? You're just a horse!" Who somehow managed to turn into a human.

"And you're dumber than I thought." Raye shook her head. "Can't you see a fae when you are presented with one? Oh, is it because I don't have pointy ears?" She touched her ears. "Sorry but that's not something of my fae kind."

"You look human. What kind of fae are _you_?"

"The shifter kind." She grinned. "What? Think only wizards have the market on disguises?" Then she turned to block him out and gossip with Serenity, though he supposed they might have a lot to talk about since they didn't seem to interact all too often and might have useful information for each other.

"Look-"

Raye turned back around. "Do you have something useful to add or can this wait until after Serenity and I have communicated what is more important than your little human existence and perils?" He opened his mouth to argue and then he closed it again. That was all Raye needed before she put two fingers to Serenity's temple and the small woman did the same back. Their lips moved and it looked like they were talking but he didn't understand a word that came out if he could hear them. They must have been speaking their own language. Then Raye drew away and Serenity was shaking but the dark haired girl nodded but when Endymion saw her eyes she looked almost as broken up about it as Serenity. He wanted to take the blond into his arms and reassure her that whatever Raye had said had been lies. Endymion held back. "You may speak now."

"What did you two just do?"

"A mind meld." Raye lifted a brow. "What? Never seen one in action? It can only be done if both parties are willing and maintain a trust network by keeping communication open verbally."

"What did you tell her?"

"Only what she needed to know since she's been cooped up here with only a screen in which to view events." She waved at the gateway for in and out of this world. As he looked at it, he could see the land with the rock Raye had hid behind moving further and further away.

"We need to leave, get my stuff and carry on with the mission." Endymion made the decision and Raye held back, holding Serenity back too. "What?"

"You cannot take her out of here. It is certain death to bring her into the human world."

"She will be under my protection. Unless it's breathing or something else- but I've been fine here. I don't see what the difference is."

"The issue is most assuredly of the human nature and other fae."

"I thought you said that fae won't harm you." He tossed at Serenity.

"Most fae won't. There are a few who wander the human world looking for fae to venture out into it and kill them." Raye spoke for Serenity who kept trying to speak up for herself but Raye kept shushing her and holding up a hand to stop her from saying anything.

"So then my offer still stands, I will protect you from the humans and fae alike who would do you harm."

"You cannot protect her. There are unforeseen issues and you will fail." Raye argued. "It is best if we all just stay here from now on. Or you and I can go together." Raye touched Serenity's wrist as if she could burn off the string with her fingers.

"I shall release her and make sure she gets back to her fae world before leaving her once more if I get all that I want before it is through."

"What do you want?" Raye demanded. "What can she possibly offer you?"

"He hopes to sell me." Serenity cut in gently. "Highest bidder, am I wrong?"

"You cannot!" Raye gasped but Endymion was looking at Serenity, wondering how she'd figured that out. "That's not acceptable. That goes against even what you've just promised."

"I will try not to but I imagine that one day she will become useful and when that day comes I shall have to barter her for what I want. I imagine she goes for a pretty penny."

"If it ever comes to that day, I will leave your side. I will no longer be your horse and by your side, no matter what life throws at you." Raye was glaring at him. "There is no acceptable reason for that to pass."

"Why would I even care?" Though Endymion knew she was a good horse and had seen him through many issues. She would be an asset on the field, had always been so and now he could trust that she knew what she was doing on a different level. He turned to Serenity. "If I can avoid it, I will not sell you but let you free."

"You say that now, but I fear that soon you will change your mind." Serenity sighed. "I will agree to this on one condition."

"Name it."

"You shall not do this to another fae. If you attempt to slave another fae then I will guarantee that you do not get another chance of enslaving me."

"How can you do anything of the sort?"

Her lips quirked up to the side. "We are fae. We know what's what. It is obvious you do not know all the rules of the fae."

"But if I sell you, you will not know if I do so or not."

"That is why you will swear it on your life that you will not enslave another fae."

"Serenity!" Raye snapped. "Except _one._"

Serenity looked at Raye for a moment and then nodded. "Sure sure, I will give you one exception. Do we have a deal?"

"What benefit do I get out of this? I could always keep you as mine and 'enslave' another fae. Or a dozen if I should wish to do so."

Serenity and Raye both shook their heads. "It doesn't work that way. You may only have one at a time. It will not work otherwise."

Endymion thought about this. How could he know if this fairy would be the best fae to have on hand? There might be another one out there that was rarer still. He didn't think Raye would qualify, a shifter was impressive but a fairy? He heard only fantastical tales about them. But she kept insisting that she wasn't a fairy nor an elf. What was she really? And was that something others would want? She had given him one chance to upgrade. But he didn't need to agree to this and what chance was there that he'd even run into another fae? On the other hand it would be better if both the fairy-elf and the horse were on his side and not making his life difficult. The one had no choice but the other- well she would go where her friend went, wouldn't she?

"Why are you a horse out there?" He asked stepping aside the topic for the moment.

"It is better than being a human. There are dangers out there that would only increase my risk if I was caught turning from one to the other or anything else. It's just easier to stay one animal for now." Raye lifted a brow. "We are well aware of what you are doing."

"I assure you Endymion, once we leave this place you will want no other fae than myself. You will not even want to give me up for money. You may not want me now as I am, which is strange indeed but it would be even stranger still out there."

"_Serenity_." Raye warned as if the golden one was saying too much but Serenity ignored her darker companion.

"Agree to the promise. Raye will not lead you to other faes if you do not." Serenity looked to Raye. "She will kill me first."

Raye visibly blanched at the idea but she still nodded. Whatever happened when Serenity stepped foot out of this place must have been bad. So bad indeed that Serenity would rather die than do so unless forced and if she were to survive it would only be as suffrage to a greater cause. Endymion didn't know her very well and so far didn't particularly like this jeweled creature but he didn't want any harm to come to her. "Idiot." Raye whispered and Endymion wasn't sure which person she was talking to this time.

"I promise." Endymion didn't know why he said it but it pleased Serenity and Raye still looked upset. "I will release you too if I don't sell you."

"You won't."

"How can you be so sure about it?"

"I know." Serenity's eyes were mysterious. "And if you do end up selling me... I pray that you'd be kind enough to kill me before delivery. Even dead I offer great rewards to my owners."

Endymion's jaw tightened. "Why do you insist on dying?"

"It is the only bearable alternative."

Endymion opened his mouth to question that but Raye shook her head. "We must leave. Already your world is slipping by us. Soon we will be in another country entirely and then we must contend with crossing borders. Not all will understand your plight."

Serenity's eyes widened and looked out to the land slipping by. "This is not the best land to find ourselves in. If you think the Queen unkind..."

Endymion turned to look and understood their plights. "Ah yes, well then, onward hoe steed!" He tried joking but the dark haired girl only gave him a dirty look as she headed towards the portal. He walked towards it looking as she slipped through and was instantly a horse again. "Will I turn back into that blond man?"

He felt Serenity's hand slip into his and he looked down at the girl in surprise. "No, you removed that if you recall. We shall go together." She took a step forward and pulled him out after her. He didn't really consider that 'together' but he supposed they were still connected physically. He remembered at the last moment to throw up a disguise for himself, he'd deal with Serenity and Raye if it came to it. Raye stuck out as his horse but at the moment she'd be fine. Serenity would be a beckon to all and they'd try to tear her apart so they could sell parts of her individually.

It felt like cool water brushing his skin as they went through and when he was on the other side he was dry. He couldn't remember going through before. When he looked down at Serenity he realized his fears had been for naught.


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

Raye neighed and butted her head against Serenity's shoulder. Serenity reached up and stroked Raye's long snout. "Hello beautiful." She then looked back at Endymion to gauge his reaction. But there was only mild surprise in his eyes. Hers narrowed slightly trying to read something deeper. Her breath puffed out in little white clouds. It was colder here in his world. She looked cold and he unhooked his cape to wrap around her bare arms. Her dress was a simple white frock, a little too thin for his world and he wrapped the cloak tighter around her thinking he needed to find some way to keep it closed and secure. He could still see her legs through the glossimer material. "Do you understand now why I held your hand?" When he shrugged her frown deepened. "I wanted to make sure you knew who you were looking at and didn't feel cheated that I didn't come through with you."

"I wouldn't have mistaken you for anybody else." He gave the land around them a sweep of his hand, they were far from the cliffs they had been on before but still there was nobody. They were not yet out of them completely though, just beyond the last one. "There's nobody with whom I could mistake you with." He tugged her towards him and made to lift her up. "It's time we get going. We have a long journey to take back and we have to go around the town. Probably give it a wide birth."

Raye gave a sound of agreement but Serenity held up a hand. "Wait- Endymion give me a second, let me look." And he allowed her to. She had no reason to tell him about the one-fae rule. And if they were both telling the truth then she couldn't very well leave him without his approval. He supposed she would want to see what she had done to herself.

She found an icy patch as the water clung to the rock wall and touched her face in surprise. She touched her features gently and turned her head to look closely. When her eyes trained on him the blues were bluer than ever before and there was now black in her eyes and he almost thought it was a bad omen if it wasn't what was 'natural'. She swallowed hard. "I take it back, you are different. I'm still me, only..."

"Human."

"Plainer." Serenity countered. "Everything about me is not just so human, but my hair is a flat blond, my skin is only pale not translucent. My eyes and lips are plain and dull." She gave a small turn and the wings were not even reflecting in the moonlight now. They didn't even reflect in what was in the sky, the end of the sun as it sank behind the cliffs. In other areas the sun would be visible for another hour or so but here it was darker sooner.

"Are they gone?" He asked wondering if they'd disappeared now that they were out of her world.

"In a manner of speaking. I know they're still there but nobody will be able to see or touch them now. You cannot remove a part of me. Think of it more like they're welded to my body now but with no possibility of a human noticing. Same thing with my ears." She ran a few fingers along the tips but the motion she made was uninhibited as she followed the line he could see. He didn't understand how she could do that and yet still have her elf ears. Perhaps it became more like a ghost sensation, like a phantom limb?

"Why are you surprised? Didn't you do this to yourself?" She shook her head in the negative. "Then this is what happens to protect you when you enter the human world?"

"No. If I were to enter the human world of my own choosing, then my appearance would not change. I would be as I were in there. I have no control over what I look like. The boundary between one world to the next does not either."

"Then why?" Endymion reached out and traced the shell of her ear. He'd wanted to do so before and her head turned into his touch without trying to. He found he liked touching her.

"Because of you." She whispered and there was a strained note in her voice as if she liked him touching her too.

"But I didn't-" Then Raye's head was between them, butting him away from her and if he wasn't good on his feet he would have been knocked over. As it was Serenity had to cling to Raye to stay upright.

She gave a laugh to lessen the impact. "I'm not used to being without my wings. I feel a little off balanced."

"Then let me help you." Endymion side-stepped the firery horse and swung Serenity up into his arms so he could put Serenity onto Raye's back. He made to join her but Raye moved without his say-so and he had to jog to keep up. He tried once more to swing up onto her back but Raye took off into a run without him. "Hey! Come back here!"

Serenity's fingers snarled into Raye's mane and pulled so hard that the horse whined in protest and it looked like Serenity was being pulled off the horse as she did so. Raye turned and trotted back, he hadn't said how fast she had to return. "Please don't do that."

"Me or the horse?" He asked now being able to join her on the horse's back. He had always called her Flame for her grace and he wasn't sure how to address her now that he knew her real name.

"Both." He felt Serenity's shoulders shift against his chest as he rode with her. One arm was around her waist while his other hand held the reigns. Perhaps he didn't need these either anymore. He really didn't know how to go from here. She was still so tiny. He felt like an ogre holding her captive like this. "Where to now?" She asked when silence threatened to drown them.

"To get my gear and head onto the next check point. I need to meet up with whomever could have survived the last attack. There will be news and further plans when we reach it."

Serenity ran her fingers through Raye's mane, as if trying to soothe the pain she, or was it he, that was caused earlier. "Raye says she knows the woman which relayed the instructions to you. Raye can find her again if you wish it."

"I'd rather not. She is too obvious a choice and I don't believe she will be the one sent to update me on the next move. We must communicate through very specific channels."

"You do not like the Queen very much do you?" Serenity questioned softly, her eyes on the setting sun and he followed her gaze, thinking of his answer. He had no reason to hide much from her but at some point he might have to sell her and anything she knew could be used against him.

"Why did your world shake?"

"Now who is avoiding an answer?" She teased and leaned back into his embrace. "You were planning on abducting me. The borat is not pleased with changes to his environment. He can sense when someone is up to no good, despite their 'honorable' intentions earlier. Sometimes flukes happen. Not very often but they can. Now that you no longer wish to capture another fae we can move between worlds again."

"You never told me that. If I had known it I might have agreed to that promise earlier."

"You already knew you could not find them again." Serenity looked up at his jaw. "Even with me in your midst we would not be able to if you meant the residents harm or anything else. I may be fae and able to travel between lands when looking for them for whatever reason, a human cannot. Now you can at least bypass one obstacle."

"The looking for them part?" Endymion checked and she nodded her agreement. "We're going to be going into fae territory a lot then?" He wasn't sure what he'd had planned but he wasn't opposed to going to a land that was safe from those who wanted him dead.

"I thought you wanted my help." Serenity said turning to look at him as they rode. He was still a young man but with brown hair and eyes, his appearance was bulky to make viewers second guess themselves if they wanted to attack him. It was not the dark haired man with the enchanting blue eyes she had first met. His horse was a brown now too. She slid her hand into Raye's mane and stroked the horse subconsciously.

"I do."

"Why?" She looked truly curious.

"To defeat the Queen."

"So you can rule in her place?" She turned to look forward once more. "Do you think you're the better ruler?"

"I don't know who should rule this country, I only know she should not. She has stolen all the life from this land and what was once a vibrant country is now broken." He liked to look down at the bare slope of the back of her neck as she bent it forward. It surprised him and he stopped himself from tracing that line with his lips. There were more pressing matters at hand. He thought about what she'd asked him. "I do not know her daughters but they are too young to rule."

"She has a son." Serenity spoke and he stilled so he didn't even breath. "The Queen has a son?" Was she talking about him? He wasn't _her _son, he knew both of his parents.

The girl in front of him nodded. "He drifts aimlessly through the worlds looking for a place to call his own. His mother did not want him, she had power and greed on her mind. She knew bringing a child from a previous coupling would not sit well with your father." So she did know the truth of his origins. Whether she knew that from the first moment or not, he wasn't sure and he probably wouldn't ask. He was more interested in the knowledge he could gain about the Queen. Have a child out of wedlock would not tear the woman from the throne.

"Especially a male child when he wanted daughters." Endymion added and saw the tree which he'd hidden his pack. Raye moved quickly and smoothly and Serenity had proficiently distracted him so he didn't notice the ground being ate up. They'd had no problems on the way back.

"Her children will not rule." Serenity promised him and he didn't know how she could be so assured on that point. They were for all practical purposes next in line if the Queen managed to dispose of him permanently.

"If I were to die-"

He saw her head shake and her eyes locked onto his as she turned once more in her seat. He was still disconcerted by the change in her. He had grown used to her original appearance. But she was still breathtakingly beautiful. "If you were to die, which you will not if I have anything to say about it, her children will still be grasping for a crown that will never be theirs."

Endymion slid from the horse to deal with getting his pack down from the tree. It was easier to toss it up there and he pondered what she said. "Are you a seer?"

"No. Raye has some gifts in that realm but I know my fae. The Queen's daughters will not be able to complete what their mother set out to do. They will be forced to follow in the fae's footprints and their human side will make it impossible for them to resist to the pull."

"They are half fae?" Endymion almost fell out of the tree in surprise. "The Queen is fae?"

"She is."

Endymion retrieved his pack and slid it along his body so it rested behind him. "How do you know so much about her?"

"I am very old and I have seen many things." Serenity announced with some gravity and he eyed her thoughtfully.

"Is that why you are sure I will win?"

"I don't know any such thing. I just know that I will help you in whatever way I can. I agree that she is unfit to rule. It will take a very strong and very compassionate ruler to turn this place around. Though it was never as vibrant as you seem to believe."

"If you're so old, how come you still look like a very young woman?"

"In my world you do not age. People go and seek a chalice for eternal youth, they do not realize that they're standing in it. Humans are too impatient to realize that they are not aging. Usually the fae are sent into the human world until they become adults."

"Did you?"

"Enter the human world?" Serenity questioned and then shook her head. "No. It was too dangerous for me."

"Because you are so youthful mentally?"

"Because of what I am, not who I am. As for your assumption that just because I am playful I am not wise, I hope you will change that opinion sooner rather than later. You could learn a lot from me child."

His face twisted as he mounted the horse again and sent her off in another direction. "If you judge on looks alone, I am your elder."

Her finger came out and traced the taunt skin of his hand. "Your looks change too often to make a relevant argument in that fashion."

"This is the most fluid conversation we have ever had." Endymion announced with some surprise. Not once had she spouted off into another conversation point and leaving the one they had just had completely in the dust. While they did move from topic to topic without fully hashing it out, it was followable rather than just jumping ship.

"Part of my curse." She sighed and leaned into him. "You own me."

He wanted to question her about that statement but he also wanted to go back to an earlier topic now that he thought of it. "Why other fae lands?"

"I am going to find us help." She admitted. "Though the fae will not like you and will need some convincing. Just be prepared to have a challenge on your hands. Now no more questions. I haven't had a night where I could not fly, it is exhausting to tamp down on that part of me."

He thought he could handle any challenge easily, he didn't know exactly what he was in for that point. She was right to have warned him. He would have asked more questions but she was asleep in his arms.


End file.
